Accident Blackspot
by AaronCottrell97
Summary: Halloween has come once more, and the engines are spending the night telling each other ghost stories, but after James' poor story, the engines want a proper ghost story, but can't think of anything scary enough. Until Edward arrives and decides to tell them a story from the North Western Railway's earliest days.


"…It was many long years ago, long before any of us had ever come to live here. The North Western Railway was not even a year old yet. But there was a little engine named Timothy. He was a kind little engine of the E2 Class, just like Thomas, only his design was older and did not have extended side tanks. He had a majestic coat of silver paint that shone in the moonlight, and he had No. 0 on his side. Then, on the night of Halloween, something terribly horrific happened. Timothy was pulling a passenger train across the starlit railway. The late night special ran from Knapford through to Maron Station. But that was where the line terminated as there was a viaduct still under construction."

_'Come along now, Timothy. We mustn't be late, you know,'_ said his driver.

"The trip was going well and Timothy was making good time as he pulled into Wellsworth Station…but as you and I know, strange and frightful things can happen to anyone on Halloween. As the train slowly departed, something strange happened within Timothy. His eyes suddenly began to glow red. He kept running smoothly along the line…but then as they approached the final station…it happened. Neither driver, nor fireman could shut off steam or apply the brakes. Timothy started to go faster…and faster…and faster, and faster still! The stationmaster tried to flag him down, but Timothy shot right through Maron Station and into the dark distance, on towards the unfinished viaduct."

_'Timothy! Stop! You'll kill us all!'_ his driver ordered.

"But Timothy did not stop, or reply. He kept going ever faster. His driver and fireman desperately fought for control, but they wouldn't budge. They came nearer and nearer to the viaduct. The guard tried to apply the emergency brake, but that didn't work either. As they neared the viaduct, Timothy's face became twisted and wrinkled in such a ghastly fashion with black eyes, red, glowing pupils, and a frightfully demonic, monstrous voice."

_'This is MY fate. MY destiny!'_ he growled demonically.

"Then with no more words spoken, the silver engine crashed through the barriers, and soared off the cliff to his death, killing his crew and all the passengers-"

"James, enough of your stupid stories," said Thomas. "We all know ghosts are just pretend. We're all rather tired of it at this point!"

It was Halloween night and all the engines were at Tidmouth Sheds, exchanging ghost stories to each other until James had been interrupted.

"Thomas is right, James," said Gordon. "You're certainly the one to talk spooky after Gator scared you and the Flying Kipper off the track!"

"Your story doesn't even make enough sense to work, James!" Emily added. "There was never an E2 engine on this railway before Thomas came here, and you failed to explain how or why 'Timothy,' became 'possessed,' and decided to kill himself and his passengers!"

David was visiting the sheds too and was sitting on Emily's running plate. "You've not a clue about that story, I think, James," he sniffed.

"And we know you didn't come up with this story yourself, James," said Thomas. "You very clearly heard it from someone else."

Now James' stories have never been taken seriously, but this was one of his worst ones yet. And after being interrupted and having his story be picked away like this, he was most annoyed.

"Well, if you're all this picky with every little part of my stories, why don't you come up with a better one?!" he huffed.

Suddenly, all the engines began puzzling to themselves, not sure what kind of story to tell that would be better than the one James had tried to tell. Just then, Edward came by to visit the engines and settled himself on the turntable.

"Huh? Oh. Hello, Edward," said Thomas. "Visiting the sheds?"

"Yes, Thomas," said Edward. "Hello, Nia and Rebecca."

"Hello, Edward," said Nia. "Happy Halloween."

"Good evening, Edward," said Rebecca. "What brings you here?"

"I couldn't help but overhear some of you telling James that his little ghost story didn't make sense," said Edward.

"What cheek these engines have, Edward!" huffed James. "Interrupting my story and pointing out everything that doesn't make sense! And it seems that none of them have anything better to tell!"

This gave Edward an idea. Seeing as it was Halloween, he decided to tell them all the spookiest story they'd ever hear.

"Hmm…what about the story I have to tell you all tonight?" he asked.

"You, Edward?" asked Gordon. "And exactly what story would you have to tell us?"

Edward smiled a little slyly. "About when I helped to build this railway all those years ago. And I can honestly assure you, there was never any E2 engine named Timothy of any sort, or any other E2 engines for that matter. So to some level, your story was plenty of nonsense, James."

James rolled his eyes as the other engines listened to Edward. And this is the story he told…

* * *

Way back when the North Western Railway was still being built in late October, Edward had been brought in on loan to help build the line. He had not even met the Fat Controller yet. In fact, there was a different controller on the railway. Part of the line ran alongside a road downhill. On this road was an infamous and very notable accident blackspot. A place where road traffic accidents were historically concentrated for generations. Edward was quick to learn about this blackspot from the current manager of the soon-to-be railway and he made sure to be careful whenever he went by, in case anything ever did happen for him to alert the manager of.

A few days passed, and the railway slowly became bigger. But when the night of Halloween rolled in, Edward was approaching the black spot with a train of rails and sleepers to help extend the line further. It was a cold, frosty night with a bitter nip in the air. All was well, until Edward suddenly saw a woman running beside the line. She called out to Edward, sounding petrified beyond reason, and very weak. Edward suddenly felt nervous.

"Stop! You there! Blue engine! Please stop!" the woman begged.

"Don't stop, mate," said Edward's fireman. "It's sure to be a setup for attention. A beggar looking to pick our pockets."

But the driver took a look out of Edward's cab and gasped. The woman had several cuts and bruises and was clearly in a true need of assistance. Edward's driver decided to stop the train and find out what was wrong.

"Madam, you look awful. Whatever is the matter?" he asked.

The woman sobbed uncontrollably. "Please, sir! My husband and I have had a terrible crash on the road! He might be dead…and I have a newborn baby trapped in that car. Please help me save my child!"

Edward's fireman came out and put his arm around the woman. She was cold as ice, and her face as deathly pale.

"Good Heavens," gasped Edward's driver. "You stay here, madam. Edward and I will go down and find your baby! On with it, Edward!"

Edward left his train in a siding and raced away down the line to find the wreck and save that baby. When he arrived, he saw the car smouldering with smoke, and he could hear the baby crying.

"He's in there! Quick, quick!" Edward whistled with alarm. His crew worked frantically to find a way into the car and much to Edward's relief, they managed to free the baby. Edward's fireman carefully cradled the baby and made his way back to Edward. Then Edward made haste to get back up the hill to reunite the baby with its mother.

When Edward returned to his train, he saw the woman was nowhere to be seen. The guard was standing outside the brakevan.

"I placed the lady inside to keep her warm," said the guard.

"Good work, mate," said Edward's driver. He and the fireman carried the baby up to the brakevan and opened the door…but to their surprise and fear, the woman was gone.

"Heavens! Where is she?!" the fireman panicked.

"Oh dear, she must have followed you down!" the guard exclaimed.

"Keep the baby safe!" the driver ordered as he handed the baby to the guard and Edward shot off into the night again, back to the wreck.

Edward made it back to the blackspot on the road and took a closer look at the smouldering car. This time, he could see what else was inside. There were two people in the front seats. A man and woman, both dead. His driver and fireman approached the car and looked even closer and what they saw made them freeze where they were. It was the very same woman that had stopped them on the line. They were no doctors, but Edward's crew knew this couple was dead, likely from the impact of the crash.

"But wait a minute…" said Edward. "I didn't see the mother follow us down…and the guard said he put her in the brakevan. A person could never keep up with the speed of an engine."

"Perhaps we didn't notice her in the dark, Edward," his driver said gravely as he removed his hat. "This is most tragic, but at least we saved that precious baby's life."

"Oh no," Edward murmured, to no one in particular as he gazed up at the dark, cloudy sky covering the moon. "It wasn't us, or the guard. Twas the woman's ghost that saved her baby…"

* * *

And with that, Edward had told his story to all the engines. "There you go. Well?" he asked cheerfully. "What do you think? Spooky, huh?"

He looked slowly from left to right. No engine said a thing. They were too scared to answer. Even though they all knew ghosts were just pretend, the way Edward had told this story was unlike any ghost story that had ever been told. Even James never touched on a subject of spookiness like this, ever. Even David was quaking in his boots while Emily merely gaped in silence with the other engines.

Edward couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry, the baby's life was saved and he grew up with quite significance in his life. Well, have a happy Halloween, everyone," and he set off on his way back to Wellsworth.

Soon after Edward had left, David got down from Emily's running plate and finally broke the silence. "What do you think, Emily?" he asked.

"It-it's so haunting, David!" Emily shuddered. "Never did I think that Edward could be so…so spooky!"

"Good Heavens!" Rebecca whispered. "That was so scary! The poor mother!"

"Don't worry, Rebecca," said David. "Ghosts are merely a device of story-telling, and Halloween is one of those times to be scared, after all. All of you get some sleep, while I keep watch for a while." And he winked to Emily before he murmured uneasily to himself, "Although, I must admit, that story will not be leaving my mind anytime soon…"

Edward, meanwhile had made his way back to Wellsworth Sheds and had told Philip everything, making sure not to frighten him with any of the grimmer details.

"Well, well, well. What do you know about that, Edward?" asked Philip.

"They were quite spooked, Philip. In fact, I didn't tell them this…" chuckled Edward. "But they should come to know at daylight…that I had only made that story up."

"Brilliant, Edward!" Philip beamed. "Happy Halloween!"

And Edward just smiled. "Happy Halloween, Philip."

* * *

Happy Halloween! My first proper Halloween story. I'm pretty I've probably said in the past that I would never do Timothy the Ghost Engine in my stories, but I wanted to make fun of it and rip it apart because it's dumb. And I made Edward tell the story because we haven't heard him telling ghost stories for over fifteen years, and the fact that he only made it up was a reference to 'Bad Look-Out' from "Mountain Engines"; the only difference is Edward's story was actually made up. Anyway, things are getting busier for us again, which means that we're taking another break from stories until December. So, until then, tell us what you thought of this story and we'll see you in December.


End file.
